This Man Confessed(178)
Me.
“When did she hurt you before?” I ask, needing that final piece to secure this colossal puzzle and lay it all to bed.
“After Rosie died she tried so hard to make me see that we needed each other. She had always been a little unpredictable, but when I continually rebuffed her advances, she really started behaving erratically. We’re talking full-on bunny-boiler style.” He smiles at me, but I can’t smile back. She’s tried to kill him twice. This is no laughing matter.
“Did she get pregnant on purpose?”
“Probably.”
“And she stabbed you?”
“Yes.”
“Did she go to prison?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He’s sighing again. “Her family got her help and kept her away from me in exchange for my silence.”
“But look at the mess she made of you.” I point to his old scar. “How did you pass that off?”
“It’s pretty superficial.” He looks down at his stomach. “She did a better job this time.”
“You didn’t even go to hospital, did you?” I’m horrified. That is one nasty scar and far from superficial. “Who stitched you up?”
“Her dad. He was a doctor.”
“Oh my God!” I move and collapse onto the chair. “And where were your parents while all of this was going on?” I sound like a lecturing fishwife, but holy shit, where did it end?
“They’d already returned to Spain.”
“Jesse…” I snap my mouth shut, trying to think hard of what I can possibly say, before I blurt out just anything. As always, I’m blank. This man renders me speechless on every level. “Your mum in Spain.” I think hard. “Second chance?” She hadn’t been referring to Jake at all. She’d been referring to Jesse’s lost daughter—a chance for him to be a good father again.
“You really do know everything now.” His dry voice is still disjointed and his searching eyes are looking for mine. But he won’t let our gazes connect. “Are you leaving me?”
If my heart was breaking for him before, then now it’s just shattered. That simple, perfectly reasonable question and the unsure tone in which he’s asked it has tears stabbing painfully at the backs of my eyes. “Look at me,” I demand sharply. He does, showing me unthinkable hurt. It cuts so deep and the tears roll freely. So do his. I know I’m his savior now. I’m the key to redemption for him. I’m his angel. “Unbreakable,” I weep, crushed by sadness for this man. Two weeks of emptiness has been flooded by happiness, but soon is replaced with sorrow.
He gasps, but I’m not sure whether it’s in pain or relief. “Hold me,” he begs, weakly lifting a heavy arm out to me. The no-contact will be killing him, especially when he has to depend on me to feed his need.
Gingerly crawling onto the bed, I settle carefully around tubes and dressings. I’m pulled in closer. “Jesse, be careful.”
“It hurts more if I’m not touching you.”
His fingertip connects with my chin and pulls my face up to his, and I reach up to catch a stray tear before running my palm all over his overgrown face. “I love you,” I say quietly, pushing my lips gently to his.
“I’m glad.”
“Don’t say that.” I pull back and hit him with a disappointed glare. “I don’t want you to say that.”
His confusion is clear. “But I am.”
“That’s not what you usually say,” I whisper, giving his too long hair a warning yank.
My savageness tips the corner of his lips. “Tell me you love me,” he demands, probably using far too much of his energy to sound stern.
“I love you.” I comply immediately, and he breaks into his full-on, glorious smile, reserved only for me. It’s the most incredible sight, even if there are tears accompanying it and he’s a little too washed out.
“I know.” He kisses me sweetly, then hisses, losing his momentum, then rides out the pain to kiss me again.
“I’m getting the nurse now,” I tell him determinedly. “You need some painkillers.”
“I need you,” he grumbles. “You’re my cure.”
Reluctantly releasing his lips, I prop myself up and clasp his face in both hands. “Then why are you still tensing and hissing in discomfort?”
“Because it fucking hurts.”
I give him one last peck and peel my body away from him before rearranging the sheets over his waist. While it’s horrible seeing him so weak and helpless, the thought of looking after him and nursing him back to health is something I’ll cherish.